Katherine S. Neilson

Specializing in both flat and steeplechase racehorses, Kathy has trained many horses to win six furlong dirt races at Penn National Racecourse, two mile hurdle stake races at Belmont, Churchill Downs, Middleburg, Virginia and Saratoga racecourses.  She has won numerous timber stake races including the Maryland Hunt Cup, New Jersey Hunt Cup, the Geneseo Valley Hunt Cup and the Pennsylvania Hunt.  .
 
Kathy trained Young Dubliner to win the  four-mile Maryland Hunt Cup and currently holds the course record since 2002 and that same year, Young Dubliner was Timber Horse of the Year.  Kathy also trained Young Dubliner to win multiple timber races as a 15-year-old.  She was Leading Maryland Steeplechase Trainer in 2010, second Leading National Steeplechase Association Trainer in 2003 and Top Ten National Steeplechase Trainer for the last 15 out of 20 years as a trainer.

In 2023, she and Irv Nalor's Withoutmoreado (Ire), with Conor Tierney in the irons, claimed the win at the Maryland Hunt Cup.  Both Kathy and her sister Sanna were awarded the S. Bryce Wing Award, for "their lifetime’s worth of positive contributions to the sport, as well as achieving outstanding successes in this year’s Maryland Hunt Cup finishing first and second. Kathy and Sanna have had a combined total of 270 Maryland Timber starts as trainer. Between them they have had 30 Maryland Hunt Cup Entries and 6 winners, including Sanna as a rider as well as a trainer."  Link to full article.

Kathy has ridden on the flat at Philadelphia Parx, Penn National, Delaware Park, Laurel Park, Atlantic City Race Course, Ohio, New Mexico, England, Poland, France, the Czech Republic and in Germany where she won the World Cup Amateur Race.  She was awarded Amateur Flat National Steeplechase Association Champion in 1997.

Kathy has ridden over hurdles and claimed victories over timber at Winterthur, Delaware, Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania.  She was the Delaware Valley Divisional Champion in 1995.  A mother of three and avid fox hunter, she trained Fionna to be Delaware Valley Point to Point Medium Race Pony Champion 2014 and 2015.  

Kathy sits on multiple boards and committees including:
President - Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation (TGSF)
Co-Race Director - The Cheshire Races
Board Member - Cheshire Hunt Conservancy
Board Member - The Willowdale Steeplechase
Former President - Steeplechase Owners and Trainers Association

​She has stalls available at both Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland and at her own farm in bucolic Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

INDUSTRY ACCOLADES
Kathy has been featured in the following industry publications:
The New York Times
The Baltimore Sun
This Is Horse Racing
The Aiken Standard
NJ.com
Midatlantic Thoroughbred
Horse of Del Val Leading Trainer Article


2016 DVA Leading Trainer!
And check out Delaware Online's feature article of Kathy as an industry fashion icon!